Studio Badge in Ghana creates chic lifestyle accessories for the modern home. Bearing a minimalist aesthetic underpinned by the founder’s architectural background, each product is handcrafted in limited edition quantities meaning a unique product.

Bold graphic black and white prints with a distinctive Afro-Scandi aesthetic characterise the designs of Pino Nord, a design lifestyle company based in Nairobi, Kenya. Pino Nord draws on the minimalism of Scandinavian design, and fuses this with the vibrancy, boldness and artistic expression of daily life in Nairobi, and from this fusion comes a style that Pino Nord calls Tropical Minimalism.

Once again the festive holidays are upon us, and I want to take the time to say a big, heartfelt thank you to you dear reader for being a part of the Atelier Fifty Five journey. This past year has been one of reflection and metamorphosis as the platform undergoes significant change to move it forward, and I hope you will continue to join me as it does so. Change is not easy, it is challenging and exhausting, so as always I will be taking some time away from the platform to rest and relax in the company of loved ones, and wish you the same. The studio will close on Thursday 20th December reopening Monday 7th January 2019.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

– Tapiwa Matsinde

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Accessories brand Sahel began life in 2008 in the desert of Burkina Faso, where founder and former fashion editor Charlie Davies spent seven years living amongst the Fulani. Moving back to London Sahel became a vehicle for bringing high-end Burkinabe craft skills and products to international audiences.

Freeform, organic, and sculptural are just some of the words that come to mind when viewing the work of ceramicist Ranti Bamgbala aka Ranti Bam, who is inspired by a love of words and metaphor, Eastern philosophy, etymology, and clay. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, and raised in London Ranti set up her studio practice in 2015 after graduating from the renowned City Lit Ceramics degree course.

Small/independent businesses can find it hard to compete with the ‘slash all prices’ nature of major shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Whilst large established retailers can afford to drastically cut their prices in a bid to attract shoppers, for the small business owner following suit could mean barely making a profit and negatively impacting their bottom line. Enter Small Business Saturday an annual event that encourages consumers to support their local small independent business owners by spending their money with them instead.

Despite being the season of peace and goodwill to all, December can be one of the most stressful times of the year, as we get caught up in the finishing of work, hitting those goals before the new year, and of course the flurry of activity that comes with the social aspect of the season. So rather apt for this time of year is the annual Tounché Global Consciousness Summit. Taking place just outside of Johannesburg, South Africa at the Nirox Sculpture Park in The Cradle of Humankind on Saturday 8th December 2018 the Summit is all about a facilitating a collective shift in consciousness in our increasingly polarised world through individual self-realization, and hence the name Tounché which means shift in the Yoruba language of Nigeria and Benin.

No-one wakes up and automatically knows how to run a business. It is a skill that needs to be learned and honed over time, even if you have a natural talent for it. As a creative entrepreneur, I stumbled many times in the early years of trying to build a successful business. I had no immediate examples of what I needed to do, so just went with what I thought would be the right things to do. Much of my early ideas about business were borne from novels featuring successful heroines who made having their dream businesses look easy and that made me want to be like them. Reality bites and separating fantasy from reality has been a long and difficult path to where I am now.

Trees are important in rural African culture, they bring people together, making them the focal point of the community. A lot happens under a tree, people sit seeking refuge from the rays of the sun, leisurely watching the world go by, church services take place, school lessons conducted, a visiting health clinic sets up triage, and craftswomen lay their mats down sitting atop them, a baby or two sleeping beside them, as they weave baskets, bead clothing, jewellery and more, their skillful hands not missing beat as they catch up on the latest news and gossip.

More and more people are shunning chemically formulated on the shelf beauty products in favour of natural, holistic handcrafted formulations, and the beauty industry has witnessed a rise in brands around the world catering to this need by tapping into their own homegrown beauty rituals and bringing them to global attention. And Africa is no exception. Natural skin care ingredients such as cocoa butter and shea that have been used by African women for centuries are being recognised for their benefits, but we are only just scratching the surface. Fruit of the African soil, ingredients such as baobab, marula, and rooibos are all being used to create luxury natural skin care brands that are proudly made in Africa. And among the names to know is 54 Thrones, a luxury handcrafted beauty brand on a mission to show the Africa we know, by celebrating the continent’s rich diversity in natural resources through skin care.